TESOL Certificate Programs

Observation Notebook

Observation Report Form

Name of Observer Emily Wilkinson Observation # 1

Date Observation Class Skill/Content Level Teacher

Environment*
10/6/16 Classroom Oral Skills Improving Mixed Karen Lindwall
Development oral skills

*Include the URL if the class was online

WRITE THE OBJECTIVES ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATION GUIDELINES:

TIE TOGETHER ALL OF THE ASPECTS OF IMPROVING CONVERSATIONS THAT THE STUDENTS
HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THAT WEEK: STARTING A CONVERSATION WITH A QUESTION,
COMPLIMENT, OR STATEMENT; ASKING CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS; AND HOW TO KEEP OR
KILL A CONVERSATION.

Notes while observing:

When I arrived, Karen was very friendly in greeting me and making me feel comfortable,
as I soon saw that she did with all of her students. The classroom was small but snuggly
fit about 15 students in chairs around the perimeter of the room. The students were
attentive and well-behaved.

9:55 am Karen enthusiastically greeted students, gave handouts (an Expression Log),
and directed students to sit by someone who speaks another language. As one of the first
students entered, she said Whats up? and then reminded the student of the correct
response and wrote nuthin on the board to show that Americans drop the -ing in their
pronunciation. One student arrived late and Karen welcomed him warmly.
10:00 am Opening: discussion of idioms. Karen asked class for examples, defined
idiom, and had students pair up to tell about the last time they had a blast. It seemed
like a good warm-up and transition into the next part of the class.
10:06 am Discussed the Expression Log- for writing down 4 - 5 new idioms the
students hear each week to find the definition of and bring to class. Class gave examples
of places they can hear new ones: in line at Starbucks/Disneyland/movie theater/etc,
class, lounge, lunch, or anywhere they can listen to Americans talking.
10:16 am Review of yesterdays topic: how to keep or kill a conversation. Karen drew
chart on board with phrases for keeping including how bout chu? whadda you
think? and how do you feel about and killing including Id rather not say I

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 TESOL Certificate Programs
Observation Notebook
have no idea/clue and Im really not sure. Explained their casual pronunciation by
spelling phrases phonetically. Also explained a couple of humorous phrases for changing
subject: how bout them Lakers? and what size shoe do you wear?
10:19 Karen quizzed students on safe vs. unsafe conversational topics (7 no-no
topics: age, money, weight, politics, family, religion, marriage/children)
10:22 Reviewed 3 ways to start a conversation: question, compliment, or statement.
She asked for sample statements and one student gave one that was not on the topic she
asked for- she told him it was a lovely statement, then corrected him, then affirmed again.
Then she said the conversation is continued with responding and asking questions back
and forth, and asked for examples of clarification questions.
10:30 Asked the class are you ready for some fun? Were gonna play a game. Then
explained the game by demonstrating with a couple of students. Students get in groups of
2 or 3 and each get a stack of cards with conversation prompts on them. They have to
choose a card to use and follow its instructions, saying 3 sentences. Also explained that
fluency means using elaborate sentences- longer than just subject + verb. Then she
walked around listening to the conversations and helping students. She also came over to
me to talk about what they were doing- she said the hard part is for them to put it all
together- the vocabulary and the conversational prompts. [when I first started the class]
they thought the way to end a conversation was to walk away. I asked her if she
explained anything to the students about context of the conversation in terms of the no-
no topics being okay depending on the circumstances, and she said that this class is only
2 weeks in- theyre only talking about basics/conversations with new people right now.
10:43 Karen had 2 groups push their chairs together- said the more people talking, its
more fun! but it appeared that the real reason she had them combine may have been
because they were struggling. Karen participated in another groups conversation, asking
some questions- then explained to a Japanese girl that it would be more appropriate to say
picture day than shooting day, which makes us in America think of guns.
10:50 Karen asked the class what are you supposed to bring next time? to remind
them, and dismissed the class. Then she spoke to me a few more minutes, and pointed out
that her class had more of a mix of levels than usual, which presented a bit of a challenge.
She said that was why she tried to get them to sit by someone who spoke another
language, to mix their levels for pair or group work.

What did you learn about teaching or learning from this lesson as it relates to the
theory you have studied in your TESOL classes? Include at least one reference (with
an in-text citation) to support your response. (250-500 words)

I had an excellent experience observing Karen Lindwalls Oral Skills Development class
and was able to see first-hand many of the basic aspects of English-language teaching in
action. From Karens demeanor and interaction with students to her lesson plan, it was
clear that she has a learner-focused teaching style and classroom atmosphere.

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Observation Notebook
Chapter 2 and chapter 9 of Practice Teaching: A Reflective Approach (2011), provide a
list of strategies and qualities of learner-focused teaching. Karens class exhibited many
of these, and following are some that resonated most strongly with me.

One quality that appeared foundational for Karens class and put the students as her focus
was simply her attitude towards them. As Richards and Farrell (2011) list among some
effective teacher strategies in Practice Teaching, Karen frequently used humor and
other ways to creat[e] a warm and friendly atmosphere (chapter 2). Her demeanor was
extremely outgoing, enthusiastic, and energetic during the entire class. She sprinkled the
lesson with simple jokes. She smiled all the time, used expressive hand motions as she
taught, and projected a very positive and encouraging attitude in an effort to make even
the shyest student feel at ease. She used several interactions with the students as teaching
opportunities and presented every new exercise as an opportunity to have fun rather
than as a task.

Another thing that stood out to me was how Karen [gave] feedback on their learning in
ways that help[ed] develop their confidence and self-esteem and minimize loss of face
(chapter 9). For example, at one point during the conversation game, as she was walking
around the room listening to each groups conversation, she noticed some students
playing wrongly by using their conversation prompt cards illogically. Rather than just
telling the students they were doing it wrong, she strategically and gracefully used the
mistake as an opportunity to clarify something for the whole class. She called the classs
attention to pause the game and said something happened that I didnt plan for,
effectively putting the blame for the students mistake on herself. Then she explained
how to choose prompt cards logically by giving an example of a natural versus unnatural
conversational transition. Another time she was careful not to embarrass a student while
she was correcting was when she asked for some sample statements from the class, and
one student gave a statement that was off-topic from what she had specifically asked for.
She told him thats a lovely statement! and then corrected him by repeating what she
was looking for, and then affirmed his statement again.

As I reflected on the concept of developing the identity of a language teacher that

Richards and Farrell describe (2011), it seemed that Karen fit her role perfectly with all
of the qualities that one should ideally possess, and she is someone that I would look to as
a role model in developing my own identity as a language teacher.

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